Issue 1 Downtime

It was late, but instead of going home like a good girl, Winn was leading Veronica into trouble.

"Don't get freaked out when we get there," Winn tells her. "These people are more scared of us then we are of them."

"Wait what do you mean?" She was a bit leery about this, and it was obvious.

Winn just smirks as they approach the bar. It's a classic dirty dive bar, English-style, with a worn sign proclaiming it to be "Fiddler's Green". There are a few mean-looking thugs hanging around outside and Veronica can hear loud music and shouts concerning football games coming from inside.

"Well...zis is...a nice place..." She says with as much of a smile as she can muster. Crossing her arms a bit, she sticks closer to Winn, whispering to her. "Are you sure zis is a good idea?"

"It's a great idea," Winn says. "These are the best places to drink."

"...You've had your hepatitis booster, right?"

"...." She blinks a few times at Winn. "Uh..."

"I'm kidding," Winn says. She puts her arm around Veronica's shoulder and begins guiding her to the door. "Come on."

Things didn't look much better from the inside. The floors were dirty. The glasses were dirty. The patrons were dirty. It was generally a dirty place. A few rough-looking people glare at Winn as she walked with Veronica up to the bar.

"Yo! Two ales," Winn says, tossing some money on the bar.

The bartender eyes her warily, but takes the money and returns with two drinks.

"Cheers," Winn says, handing Veronica one.

Her eyes kept averted from the patrons of the bar, her demeanor was to look at small and unimportant as possible. This was a common tactic for her in rough places like this. They're like t-rexes, right? If you don't move, they won't see you. When she gets the ale she raises it up, clinking it to Winn's. "Cheers." She takes no time to look at the cleanliness of the glass. Dirtiness didn't seem to bother her, apparently.

"Let's find a table," Winn says, leading Veronica away from the bar.

"Off course." She follows Winn taking a swig again from the ale. Not bad.

Winn takes a seat at a booth next to a window, taking a long drink from her ale. She sighs happily, "That's much better."

"You come to zis place often zen?" She takes a seat as well, taking a glance at the patrons for a few moments to see their demeanor again.

Most of the patrons were going about their night, not even taking any notice of the two. They were watching the television, drinking, talking, and at least one obvious drug deal was going down.

There were a few people that seem to be pointedly ignoring Winn. But that probably wasn't anything important.

"A bit," Winn says. "It's good for this and that."

She looks back to Winn and smiles. "Eet reminds me somewhat off a few off zee bars down in Nice. Zee more quiet ones around zee Promenade." Taking another swig, she relaxes back against the booth.

"Wherzzat?" Winn asks.

"In France, along zee shoreline. Zee Promenade is zee long road that trails zee shore. Eet has many shops, restaurants, clubs...in zee darker alleys are places like zis. Eet can be very rough at night, but if you know what you are doing and how to stay safe, eet isn't bad at all." She smiles.

Winn lights a cigarette, "Well, that doesn't sound fun at all then."

"Eet isn't so bad." She gives a bit of a shrug. "Could haf been worse, I assure you." She chuckles. "What about you? Where are you from?"

"The states," Winn says. "Here and thereabouts. I moved around a lot as a kid."

"How bad is eet zere? As far as zee registration goes."

"Pretty bad. There's a lot of 'forcible registration'," Winn says. "Plenty of mutants in prison too."

"How did you manage to make it all zee way over here?"

"Not having a permanent address helped a lot," Winn says. "Other then that..."

Winn shrugs, "Just a matter of being careful."

She gives a nod. "Are you in zee high school here or zee Univeristy?"

"High school. Graduating senior," WInn says.

"Excited to graduate?"

"Of course," Winn says in a mocking tone. "It'll be like a new chapter of my life is starting!"

She smirks and finishes off her ale. "Your ensusiasum is dripping."

Winn rolls her eyes, "The only reason I'm at school is my only other option is Muir. And that sounds even worse."

"Muir?" She tilts her head as she asks. Apparently she had never heard of that place before.

"It's where they send the really fucked up mutants," Winn says. "The hopeless cases."

"What do zey do wis zem?"

"It's a hospital, so I assume they treat them," Winn says. "But I dunno. I guess they could put 'em down."

She cringes a bit. "I was just wondering how eet was they would treat zem. Being stuck in a hospital for so long must be very deeficult. Especially if one is fully aware zey will be zere for zee long run." She shakes her head. "My apologies. We should talk about somesing less depressing, non?"

"Sure," Winn says. "Do you have your eye on anyone on campus yet?"

She stands from the seat. "Even if I did, I am unsure eet would matter. Simple girl wis nosing special about zem and terrified off touch." Motioning to Winns glass, she asks, "Are you ready for anoser?"

"Abso-fucking-lutely," Winn says.

After picking up Winns glass she makes her way over to the counter. She keeps her eyes low as per her normal, then smiles to the bartender before asking for two more, placing the money down with a nice tip.

When she returns the table, Winn smiles at her. She already has another cigarette lit and is blowing a cloud of smoke into the air.

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself anyway," Winn says. "There's plenty special about you. Plus, you're not a half bad kisser."

Setting the refilled ale in front of Winn her cheeks flush a bit. "Sank you for zee compliment. Mais, I was not really expecting zee kiss to begin wis..." She says a bit sheepishly.